What do you see? An alien sun rising over some distant desert landscape? Arid rivers marking the surface of Mars? Leave your guesses in the comments! #ISeeTheWorldWithScience
● Forests in Flames: Actually, this photo was commissioned by the United Nations to bring attention to deforestation from coca cultivation. Three countries account for the global cocaine production: Peru, Columbia and Bolivia. A study led by SUNY professor Liliana Dávalos showed that in a 5 year period, coca cultivation led to the destruction of 890 square kilometers of rainforest. That accounts for ~6 percent of rainforest loss, totaling 14,000 square kilometers, or an area slightly larger than Jamaica. Spraying with herbicide proved to be an ineffective deterrent: for every 30 hectares sprayed, only one was eradicated. In contrast, government protection of land seemed to prevent illegal growth of coca plants.
● Sunburned Eyes: Dilated pupils and red eyes are a visible sign of cocaine use. Curiously, cocaine was used to treat snow blindness, an extremely painful form of sunburn of the eye caused by UV radiation bouncing off snow cover. Did you know that British explorer Ernest Shackleton packed medicinal cocaine for his expedition to the South Pole in 1907 (see here for a fascinating pix http://goo.gl/W8Jo5). [Note: Shackleton came close, but did not make it to the South Pole. Later, his wife recounted : “The only comment he made to me about not reaching the Pole was “a live donkey is better than a dead lion, isn’t it?”]
● Snow Blind Friend:The Urban Dictionary defines Snow Blindness as Cocaine addiction, as heard in this poignant song by Steppenwolf: SNOWBLIND FRIEND live John Kay & Steppenwolf 1989
He said he wanted Heaven but prayin’ was too slow
So he bought a one way ticket on an airline made of snow
John Kay, the charismatic frontsman of Steppenwolf, was legally blind with a congenital disorder of cone cells leaving him with complete color blindness and only black and white vision.
Ref: Forests and Drugs: Coca-Driven Deforestation in Tropical Biodiversity Hotspots. Dávaloset al., http://goo.gl/B1NVbs
Photographer: Javier Crespo, Leo Burnett Colombia advertising agency.
#ScienceSunday
madame scientist's not-so-mad musings 
blood vessels in the eye?
What a fascinating introduction that made me see that pic completely differently!!
I have no idea but Wesley’s guess sounds good! What a fantastic read, Rajini, love the dead lion quote!
Good guesses! This photograph took me on a journey from coca plantations to snow blindness to Steppenwolf 🙂
Alaviu
An eye?
Azlin Bloor , yes..that gave me quite a chuckle. I’m glad he had a sense of humor, as did his wife. The photo in the link brings out the gritty challenges that those explorers endured. On their way back from the expedition, they nearly starved to death.
How fascinating! Thank you so much for sharing these several stories in one post.
I SEE the Forest for the Trees ; )
I will admit to cropping the top/bottom of the pix a bit; even so, G+ readers are way too smart to be misled 🙂
Mark Herndon , great answer 🙂
eye veins
Eye see what you did there Rajini Rao
I was vein enough to think that I could fool you, Chad Haney .
Sabien Daems , you do..where, where? This photo did remind me of a chick embryo in development: http://umanitoba.ca/Biology/BIOL1030/Lab3/images/ChickEmbryo-5Dayc.jpg
I hope I’m a good pupil, Prof. Rajini Rao
You are clearly a man of vision, Dr. Chad Haney.
Iris-t the temptation to call this a #punderstorn but I think William McGarvey may lens a hand.
Rajini Rao Looking at the tree like nerves, I got the idea it is an eye. The dark sun like pupil supported my imagination. But I couldn’t imagine, this is caused by cocaine. I highly appreciate your concern for rain forests.
Rajini Rao always has a cornea-copia of scientific facts.
R Prakash Prakash Cocaine apparently makes the eyes blood shot, although it is hard to say if a close up of an ordinary eye would look pretty much like this too. My opthamologist always makes me see pictures of my retina and they look rather red and glowing!
There is so much aqueous humor in these punderstorms!
Long waking hours may be!
Sorry — for a moment there, I was blinded by delight, Dr. Chad Haney .
I was sclera for a minute that you wouldn’t show up William McGarvey
William McGarvey , Lol …but on the same post as Steppenwolf? :O
One of your corneast lines yet, sir…
About Steppenwolf, Rajini Rao — I knew you’d Hesse me.
You should have expected some back lash , William McGarvey , for that prime example of mondegreen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen#Examples_in_song_lyrics
I need to focus on some other tasks. I’ll see you later.
Interesting info. For curiosity, how exactly cocaine affects human body? Is there any other medical use of it?
My thought – Asteroid falling on desert… 😀 #JustForFun
Go easy on the rum, Captain Blood-shot. ;P
embryo?
“Spare the rod, and spoil the cone”, my Pappy used to say…
Conjunctivitis!~XD
Jitendra Mulay , cocaine acts on the reward centers of the brain by blocking removal of dopamine. I had a post on the mechanism recently : http://goo.gl/1jVdga
Cocaine was used as a topical anesthetic. I think it was a variant, though..not exactly the same form used for “recreational” purposes.
Your pappy had some nerve , William McGarvey 🙂
Snow Goggles made of ivory.
http://goo.gl/lEubTD
Before there were sunglasses, the Inuits had snow goggles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit_snow_goggles
That’s a super cool looking iggaak , Chad Haney . I’d wear that.
Rajini Rao you are an equally well magician too… you misguide people’s attention by conjuring a false image first(alien, forest…etc) 🙂
Got it, thanks Rajini Rao !
Too sad I haven’t taken biology or neuroscience, it’s more interesting.
Guilty as charged, prabhat parimal 😉
You can get your biology right here on Google Plus, Jitendra Mulay .
Right. That’s why I’m on Google+, ultimate source of knowledge shared by expert friends. 😉
It’s an eye!
I omitted to link to the original photograph, Tom Willingham , as I cropped this a little bit: http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/united_nations_forest_in_flames
Tom Willingham , thank you for that link! I was wondering about the mechanism for the anesthetic effect. It appears to be a sodium channel blocker.
If we legalized and regulated cocaine like alcohol we could treat coca production like any other agricultural activity and bring it onshore and closer to demand.
Of course that won’t stop people from burning rainforests to temporarily grow other cash crops. A family has to survive somehow
A close up photo of eye ball
Rajini Rao great post as usual. Thanks!
My first guess was a picture of blood vessels in some human organ. I could not spot the location in the body where the pic was taken.
Yeah, Steppenwolf ‘s John Kay is color blind. Snowblind friend, one of my favs. Speaking of Kay and cocain, how about The Pusher ? :-)
Richard Healy , excellent points. Therein lies the problem: it’s complex. I read somewhere that more rainforests are denuded by the fast food industry’s demand for cheap soy for animal feed. We’re all in this together.
Tom Lee , I’m in the mood for Steppenwolf. Just listened to The Pusher.
This is really cool. The curvature on top kind of gives it away, but a little photoshopping to stretch it out would confuse most folks.
Now why didn’t I think of ‘shopping this? Next time, I’ll be more tricky Ole Olson .
Someone’s eye perhaps?
The picture of the inner eye.
Oddly enough, I see 2 things at the same time.
I see a fluorasene image of the vessels of an eye,
and I also see very fragile trees
reflecting into a small pond.
the side of an eye
That’s the last thing you see when the comet fries everything. In this case, a little coke wont hurt you.
That’s a close- up of an eyeball!
Joshua Calloway That’s the most insightful comment I ever read. You should be in pictures.
It’s an eyeball. cracks are the blood vessels, and up top you can see the iris and pupil. Sorry, no alien suns today.
I first saw bare trees through some kind of funky lense.
That’s actually the creative vision the advert group were trying to evoke.
It’s always about the masses and the money and very seldom about what needs to be done. They need to evoke some change in the way we do things or it will be the same as that comet I made up.
an eye
Human eye ?
super human, I suppose.
I don’t have to guess; my ophthalmologist shows me these — right before telling me I need to spend more time with my contact lenses out! ;D
Somewhere up in the comments I made the same remark, Sallie Alys Montuori . Except that he uses a fancy camera to take images of my retina and points out some random black shadows just for fun 😉
LOL! I shouldn’t have allowed myself to be deterred by the high count of comments; what fun I missed!
an eye.
An eye
Less than 3 relates to an IQ rating?
Sallie Alys Montuori Usually if you toss the ones out with less than five or ten words there’s not much fluff to go through. I always read all of them, but most people don’t and then have no idea what I’m talking about because they didn’t read the a priori.
LOL. It is an eye.
You filled me with confidence, but you blinded my eyes.
You tricked me with visions of paradise…
Thanks Rajini Rao for a great post!
paradise isn’t what you see, but how you see it
One of the opening scenes of “into the void by nin” :p
Eyes seen via new ones
That’s good to have in eyeball.
Eye
one of you
99 comments… time to mute the post
Mark Bruce , I agree! I saw this pix shared in social media and recognized what it was right away. When I did a reverse Google image search for attribution (missing in the shares, of course), I was captivated by the story behind it. I ended my journey with Steppenwolf, which was a bonus 🙂
Rajini I think you are so gorgeous. I know this doesn’t compare to the conversation that you and your friends are discussing, but I was so moved by your beauty.
Never had imagined,,,, I see eyes like this in real,.almost daily,!….great post indeed!
L
Beautiful
some million years ago a poet was thinking about it at a bank of river overthere bcz his beloved died due to aridty
]
An eye
Eye
It is what it is gods eye saddend by our selfishness kendg
Eye
I kno steppenwolf
Looks like some one smoke to much weed last night
Not weed, cocaine actually Greg Hill (that’s the story behind the image).
Read the text, nah I’ll just comment.
Good morning, Chad Haney . He was close, though 🙂
OK then is it too much corlen
Lol jk
Good morning Rajini Rao you get a lot of people who don’t follow instructions so I was just messing around, as you know.
We’ll whip them into shape, Chad Haney 😀
Must be the cocaine.
I saw the eye.
Es un utero
blood vessels in the retina 🙂
Very nice pictures
Good evening. To all
Rajini Rao you have great eyes for art!
I see veins 😮
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I think it’s the bottom of an eyeball, or something else
I one. Of. You. Good
ไอแอมเชไล้ทภาษาอิงลิส
Looks like am eyeball
That’s an eyeball.
النار الی منکم
Looks like a forest on fired, looks cool doe…
An eye post night shift
Thex Dar lol! 👀
Eye
This could be an eye with wide open lids, or a black hole sucking the alien forest.
👽👽👽👽
খুভ সুন্দর হয়েছে ।
Very nice.
good looking
neurons and synapses
Very good
its a sun rising on an alien planet
Eye ball
Wow
Conjunctivitis
Unde-water forest? Vascular, nerves,?
Art Gallery http://irfanbava.blogspot.com/2017/03/art-gallery.html
Very nice pic
Eyes
Very nice pic
I’m also a student of science just give the reality not imaginary
It’s awesome to think about nature I think these is a art
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close up of an eye?
Eye veins
Arteries in eye
Nice
https://www.fivestuniversal.com/p/top-5-living.html
fivestuniversal.com – LIVING
I think it is zoomed picture of an eye ball or eye veind
Abdul Qayoom Mangrio life imitates it’s planet
Now I see plausibility of a deciduous tree-line (?)
Abdul Qayoom Mangrio …in the Fall.